▪ Moments later as the Monsignor began to pass out the diplomas, flashbulbs popped and a few home movie cameras whirred.

▪ Once Blanche saw his hands whirring over each other, she knew there was some hope.

▪ The whirring of our locust jaws is what keeps you awake.

▪ The machine shop left hundreds of thousands of men with shared memories: The whirring and flapping of the belts.

▪ The pesticides treadmill is still whirring away.

▪ The struts of the bridge whirred by, dripping.

▪ They can speak, via a whirring mechanical voice box, and they have mechanical human hands rather than paws.

▪ Three large bronzed fans whirred above in the smoky air.

Wiktionary

whirr

n. 1 A sibilant buzz or vibration; the sound of something in rapid motion. 2 A bustle of noise and excitement. vb. 1 To move or vibrate (something) with a buzzing sound. 2 (context intransitive English) To make a sibilant buzzing or droning sound. 3 (context transitive English) To cause (something) to make such a sound.

WordNet

whirr

n. sound of something in rapid motion; "whir of a bird's wings"; "the whir of the propellers" [syn: whir, whirring, birr]

Wikipedia

Whirr

Whirr is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area. The group formed in 2010, originally as Whirl, but had to legally change its name after a woman performing acoustic covers of Black Sabbath songs trademarked the name and threatened a lawsuit. Whirr's shoegaze sound is often compared to My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. Founding guitarist Nick Bassett also played in the band Deafheaven surrounding and including the release of their 2011 album, Roads to Judah.

Usage examples of "whirr".

The springs snapped to life and the armatures began moving, and soon the dark spider was alive, whirring and purring under its own mechanical power.

All the sounds were harsh and grating--the whirring of grasshoppers and locusts, the chattering of parrots and laughing-jackasses, the cawing of cockatoos and scuttling of iguanas through the coarse dry blady grass.

Above them came a whirring noise, and Burl looked up to see the masts withdrawing into the building, their discs presumably left flat and directionless.

With a glorious burst of unearthly song, the martlet seized the string in its talons and, wings whirring, flew straight up into the sky.

Where a human memory might have failed, the whirring microcircuits had linked the three items, recalled that up to his exposure by his wife in 1955 Roschmann had used the name of Fritz Wegener, and reported accordingly.

As they watched, the police paravane lifted free of the plain, angled south, whirred to a tiny glinting dot in the cloudless bowl of sky, then vanished completely.

With a whirring of strained servomotors, domed, rectangular, and humaniform heads swiveled, audio sensors perked up, and countless photoreceptors came into sharp focus.

The photoreceptors whirred audibly in their sockets, scanning left to right.

His first act was to take down the alarm clock and stifle its prolonged whirring under the pillows and blankets.

The only real effort shown by the protestors was their jockeying attempts to get their faces in front of the many television cameras that whirred up at them from the sidewalk.

His mind was whirring, trying to figure out how to beat those odds and return to find protection, with the seeress or Uncle Padrin if need be.

Graham was standing before his mirror, his electric shaver whirring busily, when the telephone shrilled.

And although the attack was taking place at least a mile off, it seemed to Ashalind that she heard the blood-baying of hounds, the snap of jaws, the twang of bowstrings, the whirr and smack of arrows and the clash of blades, the sizzle of sparks as swords smote armor, the yelling of men, the shrilling of horses, the hideous clangor of riven metal, the long, desperate pumping of mortal blood.

All Tanny had to do was name her poison and the computerized bar whirred into action to create a frothy concoction.

From them came a whirring, thuttering roar that shivered down into the bass notes and back up again, each a little out of time with the others.